Ham.

Just a quick Friday morning post full of randomness. :)

First. Jump on over to the Prism blog today to see one of my favorite layouts of late! Here are a couple quick sneak peeks:

Second. Does anyone know why we say "potty" training? Seriously. That's just weird if you stop and think about it. Where'd it come from? I actually end up most often saying, "Do you need to empty your bladder?" instead of "Do you need to go potty?"...partly because I think "potty" is weird...partly because I have very literal boys. ;)

Third. If I were to have a garage sale in mid-July, do you think too many folks would avoid it because of heat or vacation? Would it be worth doing then? I haven't had my own garage sale in like forever but am finally considering it. Tips from the pros would be highly welcome!

Fourth. Any fun weekend plans? Nathan's been sick here, so let me live vicariously through you. :)

Second water fight of the season...

Despite the crazy weird weather we've been having here in Colorado, we managed to have an awesome water fight between the thunderclouds earlier today...just some good clean fun with my boys:

(Note to self: change into a swimsuit and pull your hair back before engaging in another water fight with these yahoos! My jean shorts were really weighing me down and my hair blinded me more than once, LOL!) Don't you just love those squirty things, btw? They're so much easier than refilling water guns over and over! We just pull out this little wading pool (that we actually have never used as such) along with a big bucket and fill both up in different parts of the yard as "loading stations."

Of course, it also helps to be bigger than the boys and still able to lift them up and drop them in the freezing cold water of that wading pool. Hee hee.

But, all in all, I got pretty darn soaked. :) Oh, and in case you were wondering, Nathan took these pictures (having volunteered to stay dry, lol) but later changed his mind and got in on the action. I was too wet to take pictures at that point. By the end, we were dumping the bucket on people and using the hose as well. Fun times. :)

How's your summer shaping up?

Sharing...

A few fun things to share this Monday:

Prism is giving away three class kits over on their blog! Hurry to check it out!

Jessica Sprague is doing another FREE class (that looks freakin' awesome!). This one's on photo editing. Register now before it's too late!

This last one isn't exactly free but I think it's cool. :) Found this cool site with pop up card designs. You pay a small fee and get a downloadable pdf to print out along with easy instructions. I've made a few of these and am pretty happy with how they've turned out. Here's the latest one I did:

Love how just two sheets of lovely Prism paper, plus a VersaMark pen, turned into this gorgeous card!

Make it memorable.

First of all, a sincere Happy Father's Day to all dads out there! To Nathan, I love you and thank the heavens daily that you are the father of our children. To John (my father-in-law), so sorry your card and a small add-on package are still sitting here in my office! Hopefully the main package arrived in time, though. Thank you for being such a fabulous example of fatherhood. To my dad...

Here's a layout that just had to be made late last night:

Yes, it's totally simple. I think my dad would have appreciated that. ;) The pictures are from September of 1978 from somewhere called Boulder Cave (I have no idea where that is and no memory of this...just found these photos and that's what my dad had written on the back). The journaling reads:

I’m sitting here tonight, Dad, and it just hit me all of a sudden. The missing you. The wishing with all my heart that you were still alive. The sadness that my boys won’t know you and vice versa. It’s not that I don’t feel this way at other times as well. It’s just that tomorrow is Father’s Day, and I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of a Father’s Day memory. It’s horrible, but I can’t come up with one. I simply don’t remember celebrating Father’s Days growing up. Mostly, you were in the middle of cherry harvest and couldn’t take a day off. Also, I think, we tended to spend that day with Grandpa Baldoz when possible. Sigh. I can’t even remember a specific gift that I got you. Don’t get me wrong. I know we *did* celebrate. I just can’t remember. This bites. I’m sorry...sorry I didn’t make more of a point to do something memorable with you on Father’s Day. I know in my heart, though, that you understood and I’d like to hope that I made up for it at other times of the year when you weren’t in harvest. I also know, though, that it would have been impossible for me to adequately celebrate you and your role as a father. You rock. Man, I wish you were here so I could tell you that.

Yup, this second Father's Day without my dad is bittersweet. My public service announcement for the day, then...if you're celebrating Father's Day today...is to make today memorable. Trust me on this one. My own boys have a day of miniature golf planned for Nathan. It's become a tradition...they've gone at least the last few Father's Days. While it's not a grand hoopla or anything, it's something I know they'll all remember. And, for that, I am thankful.

Just because.

Been getting some happy scrapping done lately. :) Here are a couple that I can share. First, that birthday layout I mentioned before...

I actually used the movie ticket stub and a part of the tag off of the new top I bought. :) (Oh, and that bottom right square is actually Prism's awesome Mirri paper...just doesn't photograph well, but trust me. It's cool.)

Next, a fun (simple) layout about my Micah. I love this little story!

The journaling reads:

Micah won’t remember, but when he was almost 14 months old, Ali (who lives across the street and is six years older than Micah) proposed to him grandly in the front yard. I was there. Last week, in almost the same spot, Micah proposed to Ali. Well, actually, he declared, “Ali, I’m going to marry you.” Let me explain. Having recently discovered that I was already married (after random conversations with his brothers about marriage), Micah “settled” on Ali as his target and took the opportunity to tell her. She, after doing a little math and realizing the age difference, simply smiled at him and said, “thank you.” Then, they resumed their play with sidewalk chalk, happy as can be. Of course, earlier today, I overheard the boy in the kitchen talking to himself about how he loved hot cocoa so much that maybe he should marry it...and then arguing with himself about whether he should marry hot cocoa or Ali...Ali or hot cocoa. It was close; but, in the end, he stuck with Ali.

For what it's worth, here's the layout I made years ago about that initial proposal:

Here's the journaling from that one:

Fourteen months is a bit young, but Micah’s already received his first marriage proposal. We were in the front yard playing and some of our neighborhood kids joined us (as they often do). Ali, the girl across the street that all our boys adore (she’s just turned 7), does a fantastic job playing with Noah and Asher but tends to gravitate toward Micah...probably because he’s so darn cute and largely because she really wants a baby brother or sister. On this particular afternoon, she sat right down in front of Micah, took his hand and grandly asked him to marry her. The significance of the moment was, of course, lost on the boys, but Nathan and I exchanged a smile and said a silent thanks that we have only boys.

Sigh. They grow up so fast. ;)